Joanna Newsom, ”Sprout and the Bean”

“Walkabout”, Atlas Sound

live at the Bell House, Brooklyn

“Flutes of Chi”, Ween

“Collector”, Here We Go Magic

Kid Cudi, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij collaborate on “All Summer”, a track from Converse’s “Three Artists. One Song.” Cudi and Cosentino seem like they would be a match made in heaven, so it only makes sense that this turned out to be a surprisingly catchy and unique summer anthem. In the words of L Magazine, “if the quality of all future collaborations is this high, it will be nearly impossible to complain that the whole thing was dreamt up by some marketing department as a way to sell us sneakers.”

This one goes out to Ellen Mayer, whose song request never was granted.

Lately I haven’t been able to help but notice the increasing number of hip hop and indie music collaborations. One of the biggest and most successful examples is Blakroc- The Black Keys’ hip hop collaboration with artists such as Mos Def, Jim Jones, Q-Tip and Damon Dash. Another excellent example is The Roots’ new album, “How I Got Over” (in stores tomorrow!) that features indie acts like Monsters of Folk, Joanna Newsom, and the Dirty Projectors. See a sick live video of The Roots and Yim Yames performing “Dear God 2.0” (spin-off of Monsters of Folks’ “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)”). Then listen to the track, “Right On”, which features Joanna Newsom. There’s also this beautiful video of rapper Curren$y playing with indie band Tony Castles at a concert in St. James Church (Emma and I were front row!). Solange Knowles is also a pioneer in the bridging of the hip hop/ indie gap. Keep your eyes open for more collaborations of this nature, and read what Jay-Z has to say about it. -Annelise

On that note, I’d like to post one of my favorite My Morning Jacket songs. I’ve already started convincing my dad to let me skip school Friday, October 22nd, so that I can see them perform “Z” in its entirety. This song is off their newest album, “Evil Urges,” and I urge you to check out the Black Cab Session featuring the same song. - Emma

A few days ago, My Morning Jacket announced that they’re playing 5 nights in a row at Terminal 5. I proceeded to cry my eyes out when I saw that the dates conflict with a little thing called my college life next year in California. The reality of willingly leaving my superbly happy life in NYC for a totally different coast began to hit me. My Morning Jacket is one of the few bands that is loved by everyone in my family, and we always find common ground on Jim James’ angelic voice. I realized I would be missing out on this epic music experience along with many other inevitables next year. The thought of being stranded in Cali without MMJ or my family had me down, until I found out that on September 18th, Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, and Girls are playing the Hollywood Bowl, on the 25th, Band of Horses is playing The Greek, and on the 30th, Pavement, Sonic Youth, and No Age are playing the Bowl again. Maybe life in LA won’t be so bad afterall…? - Annelise

Watch one of the greatest acoustic music performances ever documented. We love this live rendition of Lykke Li’s song, Dance Dance Dance, featuring Bon Iver. Lykke Li’s sugarsweet, childish vocals are complimented by brushes on a guitar case, an accordion, Justin Vernon’s signature, ghost-like backup vocals, and of course an acoustic guitar.